The Clans will come, and they will bring their mechs and kill us all, it's just not certain how we will encounter them and how salvaging these things is going to work.

I've been thinking that it would actually be pretty cool if Clan invasion forces would be controlled by members of the dev team and would fight against the playerbase.

I really like the idea that the game is starting out with 100% Inner Sphere tech. A lot of the "easy mode" tech and weapons that everyone takes for granted just didn't exist before the Clan invasion like double heatsinks, ER weapons, and super light internals. Everyone will be using stuff that's super heavy and bulky. Mechs will probably be very prone to over-heating.

As for the Clan encounters, I hope they aren't controlled by players, it would allow the developers to make battles against them much more interesting. I don't know who would pilot them though if they aren't players. The one thing I really do hope they keep is the complete asymmetry that existed between Clan and Inner Sphere designs. Clan stuff was way better than the IS equipment. I think it would be awesome if however the Clan battles are set up, they are set up in such a way that the Clan mechs are always outnumbered because of their superior equipment. Making them more like boss battles.

This all falls apart when (if?) players can pilot/salvage Clan stuff though, so I really don't have any good ideas. End game I bet everyone will have Clan mechs fully kitted with Clan equipment, completely locking out any lesser mercenary corps in the same way World of Tanks clans are dominated by T9 and T10 equipment.

I honestly don't know what to expect when it comes to Clan equipment. Whatever they do I just hope they do it in such a way that doesn't create massive gaps in "power level" between long time players and newer players.

I like what MW4 did for balance between the two tech bases.
Inner Sphere weapons were heavier and harder to use, but typically had some advantage - their ballistics and missiles reloaded a lot faster, and their lasers made almost no heat in comparison to Clan tech. Inner Sphere also had all the cool toys, like they do in the boardgame.

Clan was easy-mode. Their shit weighed less. Clan lasers did more damage but made a ton of heat, and their ballistics and missiles reloaded slower than the IS counterparts. Their mechs also typically had less slots than the IS mechs (a Clan mech might have a 3x slot where an IS mech would have a 4x slot), but they had more omni-slots.

Edited:

I doubt that they'd restrict Clan, because you'd have all the die-hard Clan fans whining on the forum because they can't play as the tube babies.

Holy fuck I never realized the spherical dropships were actually THAT large.

They're large enough that taking off is an apocalyptic event. Any mechs standing within 6 hexes (180 meters) are instantly destroyed from the heat of the ship's fusion exhaust. The destructive effects go out to something like ~500 meters.

They're large enough that taking off is an apocalyptic event. Any mechs standing within 6 hexes (180 meters) are instantly destroyed from the heat of the ship's fusion exhaust. The destructive effects go out to something like ~500 meters.

I've always loved MechWarrior. My only concern is how the leveling system is going to work and Hardcore Pros vs Seasoned vs newbies. Considering how insanely good Hardcore Pros are, the game might actually fail due to them scaring off players.